The Daily Observer London Desk: Reporter- John Furner
Police in Utah said a Chinese exchange student was the victim of a cyberkidnapping scam where the teenage boy was threatened into simulating his own abduction so his family could be extorted for thousands of dollars.
Riverdale police said they found Kai Zhuang, 17, camping alone in the Utah wilderness Sunday after he was reported missing Thursday.
Authorities said they found the boy with minimal supplies but multiple phones in his possession so the remote kidnappers could monitor him while he was hiding out.
Police said the photos Kai took of himself to appease his “captors” caused his family to pay the kidnappers $80,000.
Authorities said they were able to find Kai’s tent in a wooded area near Brigham City after reviewing his phone and bank records.
“We believed the victim was isolating himself at the direction of cyberkidnappers in a tent,” Riverdale police said in a news release. “Due to the cold weather in Utah at this time of year, we became additionally concerned for the victim’s safety in that he may freeze to death overnight.”
Responding officers said they found the boy “alive but very cold and scared.” He requested to call his family in China and a “warm cheeseburger” once he was picked up by law enforcement.
Police said Kai was being manipulated by the kidnappers as early as Dec. 20 — over a week before his host family last saw him.
Riverdale police said cyberkidnapping scams prey on foreign exchange students, particularly Chinese.
